Class #6 Followup

1. How does Yves Klein’s blue cocktail relate to the metaphoric nature of food to transmit ideas?

During his 1958 The Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State of Stabilized PictorialSensibility (the Void ) exhibition where more than 2,500 persians showed up for his exhibition. The exhibition was an empty gallery with walls painted white. The 

exterior window was painted blue with the entrance lobby framed with blue curtain. 

However, the guest were served with blue cocktails which was made of Cointreau,gin 

and methylene blue (the blue cocktail). Through the blue cocktail,Klein exerted the 

control over the guest body as the cocktail dyed their urine blue. This relates to the 

metaphoric nature of food to transmit ideas as he wanted the people to see the 

transmission of blue colors through the process of drinking and urinating later to 

discover how he controlled the flow of substance out of the body through the process of 

blue cocktail.  

2. What does Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup piece say about post-WWII America's relationship to food?

Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup piece depicts the industrialization during post World 

War 2 has drastically changed the relationship of Americans with food. The process of 

agriculture and cooking became less common where the instant food such as Campbell's 

Soup have become a norm. Andy Warhol is trying to push towards the mechanical 

appearance of America in the form of food.

3. What do you think about the Bread & Puppet theatre idea that baking your own bread is a political act?

I feel that the Bread & Puppet theater idea that baking your bread is a political act 

because baking your own bread helps to empower one self socially and politically. The 

Theater performs and highlighted on the issues of social changes, the trends of society 

and politics. Schumann then baked their own bread in the oven and gave it to the 

attendee for free. The sharing of bread makes the people connected with one another.

4. Compare Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" to Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper".

The Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" is different from Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" as 

the Judy Chicago's Painting depicts the dinner place setting where thirty nine important 

women in real life or fictional character in the history will be sitting together to honor 

their contributions as most of the time, the women's contribution were ignored, never 

acknowledged or were overshadowed by the men's contribution. The painting doesn't 

have the women's sitting rather it is just a dinner setting. However, the Leonardo da 

Vinci's " Last Supper" was to capture the moment when Christ tells his Apostles that 

one of them will betray him at the institution of Eucharist. This painting bring the 

different emotions between the Apostles with Christ in the middle.

5. Describe how  Rirkrit Tiravanija's, Theaster Gates', or Michael Rackowitz's projects take advantage of the social aspect of meal-sharing to generate ideas and discussions. 

Rirkrit Tiravanija's "Pad Thai" where he sets up a cooking place in the gallery where 

he cooks Pad Thai, his traditional thai food and the visitors try the food which opens up 

discussions on the culture of thai and the food by the visitors from different culture. It 

also depicts the culture of the Artist. 

Theaster Gate's "Soul food Dinner" is a Sunday Dinner where soul food can be eaten. 

Different people from different cultural background come together to eat where they 

discuss social issues such as race and inequality while sharing the food and their 

memories while questioning and celebrating the complexity of the different flavors of 

the soul food. 

Micheal Rakowitz "Enemy Kitchen" is set up in response to the United States invasion of 

Iraq. Since he was descend of Iraqi Jewish , they serve their traditional food to open 

discussion of the War, U.S.- Middle East relation and how cultures influence one another. 

Through these artist, it depicts that sharing meals helps to open up discussions on different social and cultural aspect of the artist as well as generate ideas.  

6. What do you think about Daniel Bozhkov's "Befriend the Bacteria" project? Why did he create such a bizarre foodstuff? What should our relationship be to this yogurt and how does it relate to the history of the "self-portrait" and the idea of the artist 'bearing witness'?

Daniel Bozhkov's "Befriend the Bacteria" project is weird. He created such a bizarre 

foodstuff because he wanted make an organic yogurt with human DNA. The bacteria 

culture modified with his DNA would produce a yogurt and he packaged it in marketable 

containers with his face on it "Human DNA Reinforced". Our relationship to the yogurt

is our awareness to the human cloning in the form of yogurt. It relates to the history of

self portrait and the idea of "bearing witness" as his DNA and the picture of his face on 

the container bear witness to his existence.